Switched At Birth - 10 Months
by Witchy-Piper
Summary: Story about what happened to Daphne and Bay during their 10 months in China during episode 420.


Bay pressed her face against the small window as the plane landed. She felt excited and could not contain her energy anymore after this nine-teen hour flight. They were finally there! Her brown hair fell in front of her eyes and she wiped it away. She looked at Daphne and smiled broadly.

"We're finally there," she signed to her deaf sister. She pointed at the window and the outlines of the city.

Daphne nodded, she had been looking forward to this trip for the last three weeks. Three weeks of Carlton and trying to convince their parents to let them go. All three of them! But once the red head started to use the argument she was allowed to go for the internship, so why not only with Bay. They were taken over pretty easily.

John had made the argument the girls did not have the money, but Daphne had been saving for this trip for half a year and Bay had just sold one of her paintings during the fake art show. Bay could still get sour over that event, but she had forgiven Travis, because he had done it out of love for her. Bay was just not so sure about how she felt about him.

Kathryn had troubles accepting the girls wanting to go to such a distant country, why not back to Mexico, like a few months ago? But again the argument of Daphne going for the internship to hand out hearing aids for poor people had worked.

Regina had been okay with the whole trip, as long as they stayed together and in contact with them. But Bay's biological and Daphne's real mom had always been the more relaxed one of the bunch.

As the wheels hit the ground Daphne grabbed for her stomach, she had never liked the landing of a plane, but how else would she get to and from all these amazing destinations! So she would endure and if everything would go as planned, Bay and she would take the bus to all their destinations and would only get on a plane to go back home.

Bay looked around like a small child in a candy store as the two girls made their way through the airport. Daphne felt like she was the only responsible one on this journey, so she guided her sister to the luggage bands and after that to the exit to grab a cab.

The first stop on their trip would be the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong.

The sun was already fading into the sea as they walked out of the airport. There was a red cab just driving up to the curb. Daphne immediately tried to get the drivers attention, so they could take it. Together with their bags and Bay at her hand, she rushed them to it.

Bay was mesmerised by the sunset, she would have liked to just stay put for a moment and look at it, or just draw it. Her artistic eye always on the look out for beautiful things.

When they reached the car, Daphne saw another hand reaching for the door handle. She took one step more and felt her hip bump into a solid manly hip. The red head looked up to see if the man was angry. There was a man standing there, still one hand outstretched to the door handle, an expression of shock on his face.

"I am sorry, but I saw this cab first," Daphne said as an apology, her voice a bit awkward because she could not hear herself all that much.

The man started to smile and signed: "No problem, but how do you know you were first?"

Bay just looked at the man, drinking in the neat look of the man.

He had mousy grey hair, close set eyes and a small nose. He wore a matching grey suit with tight pants and black shoes.

Daphne's eyes grew when she saw the man sign with American Sign Language and not whatever dialect for it they had here.

"Hmm…" Daphne mumbled a bit off.

Bay did have a word to say to this man.

"We can share the ride," she said, "we are going to Hong Kong Island, where do you need to go?"

The man smiled.

"Me too." He replied, "sure we can share the ride! Just get in and give the cabbie your address and I will join you."

He opened the door for the ladies in question and they all slide in.

The cabbie was a non remarkable man and looked up questioningly as the girls entered.

"Four Season Hotel please." Bay told him and the man nodded.

When they were all sitting the cab drove off.

Bay pressed her face against the window, over Daphne's lap. The brown haired girl gave squeals of delight at every thing out of the ordinary, which was almost every corner a street and the ride felt like it took forever.

The man just sat next to the brown haired girl.

"Bay," Daphne said, "you should have gone in first. Could you please sit back down, because you are crushing me!"

Bay sat down a bit annoyed, being squashed between Daphne and the man. She felt a bit uncomfortable and regretted she suggesting they could share the ride.

After the 30 min drive, the girls piled out of the car and payed the taxi driver. The man got out after them.

Bay immediately felt threated and pushed Daphne behind her body.

"What are you doing?" The brown haired girl asked the man.

"My final destination is just a few blocks from here, so I wanted to give you have of the money you payed the driver and just walk from here." The man said with a very innocent smile. He got dimples from the motion.

Daphne smiled back at the man, seeing no harm in getting half of the money back from him.

The man pulled a black leather wallet out of his overcoat, counted out the amount and handed it to the girls.

Bay took it reluctantly and started to pull her sister away from the man. Towards the big entrance of the hotel. A lobby boy was already hurrying towards them with a cart to put their luggage on.

The boy put the the two big suitcases on the cart and started to follow the ladies into the hall, leaving the grey man behind.

After they checked into their suite and made their way upstairs with the lobby boy, they both fell down on the bed laughing.

"So… What just happened?" Daphne signed in the air.

Bay just shook her head and sat up.

"Are we going to visit Victoria Harbour today still?" Bay signed, "or are we going to stay in night?"

They had planned to stay in Hong Kong for a few days to see the city and Victoria Harbour at night, because people said it was worth making the track up the hill for it. Ofter that they would get themselves bus tickets to go to Guilin.

When there was no answer from her sister Bay turned around to see Daphne had already fallen asleep.

"Okay, I guess we are going so other day." She said softly to herself.

She got up, put their clothes away in the closet and changed into her night clothes. Then she laid a plaid over her sister and climbed into the big bed herself.

It took awhile for the brown haired woman to fall asleep, but eventually she slept without dreaming.

The next morning they woke bright and early, Bay having forgot to close the curtains. Bay was still groggy, but Daphne whipped the sleep from her eyes and went to take a shower. The morning ritual going on in silence.

Bay's wild hair was going everywhere so she searched the suitcases for her hairbrush, only remembering later she had already put away everything the evening before. She wandered into the bathroom, where Daphne was already busy behind the shower curtain, she retrieved her brush from next to the sink and walked back into the room.

While she surveyed the room, she combed her hair with swift motions. Daphne's clothes from the previous day were in the door opening to the bathroom and hers were on the chair next to the bed, where there was a small seating arrangement for them to watch television or play card games on the small coffee-table in front of it. The bed was king-size, they had not wanted to waste money on septate rooms, but that usually meant they had to share the bed. There was also a big closet in the room, which was now filled with their clothes. Today they would go out and buy themselves new traveling bags, because suitcases were not the right things for a trip like this. They planned only to stay a few days in each city or region to see everything and then move on. They had also no return tickets yet, because they did not know where and when they wanted to go back, only that it would be at the end of summer. After that it would be back to school and learning.

As Daphne entered the room she bumped into her sister while picking up her old clothes.

"Oops," the two of them said at the same time and both started laughing.

Bay moved out of the way and to a shower herself. Daphne was waiting on her so they could go for breakfast together.

Down in the restaurant of the hotel were small groups of seats with a table set up for the costumers to use and two big tables with food for them to pick from. One table with a American style breakfast and the other was laden with Chinese food. Both girls not feeling up for trying the new things out yet, went over to the American table and picked their favorites. As they went to find a table they saw a elderly Chinese couple just leaving a table. They immediately moved in to sit there and ate their breakfast.

"Let's go into the city in an hour or so, okay?" Bay signed after she was done with her food.

Daphne did not respond, she was looking into the big restaurant.

Bay pocked her in the side to get her attention.

"You okay?" she signed to the red head.

All the young woman did was bring her arm up to point at the guy in a grey suit, sitting on the other side of the restaurant. He was just sitting there, very calmly. His grey hair was combed back and gelled to his head. He was not balding, just grey. He looked fresh and was wearing another grey suit, but a different shade then yesterday. The man was sipping from his tea, not yet aware he was being watched.

Both girls stared, not knowing what to do now. They could go back to their room, get their bags and go into the city, or they could get their suitcases and get themselves out of there, because he could be following them around, with all intents and purposes. Both girls were a bit scared it was the later.

Daphne nodded to the elevators and Bay followed her to the elevator, Daphne peeked out just as the doors were closing to see the man still siting in his chair.

On their floor they rushed to the room and went inside. Bay looked scared and Daphne stopped to lean against the door.

"What do we do now?" Bay signed.

But then she saw the emergency plans half hidden behind Daphne's red hair. She pointed towards it and moved closer. The sister turned around and looked at the door.

Part of the emergency plans was map of the floor and the location of their room on the floor. Around the corner, three doors from theirs, was the entrance to the fire escape. They could check it out, see if they could use it without triggering the alarm. Daphne nodded, understand the plan and opened the door.

Both sisters ran to around the corner and quickly checked the door, there were no signs of it being locked or that they were not allowed to open it. So they opened it and started laughing and running when a very loud alarm started to go off. When they finally reached the ground floor, they pressed open the emergency exit and ran outside, moving into the shadows behind a dumpster a bit further into the alley. Bay could hear the door fall closed behind them, while they disappeared behind dumpster.

In the distance the brown haired girl could hair the sirens of the fire department. She hoped it would not be tracked down to them.

Ducked they moved away from their hiding location down the alley. When they finally reached the street, the girl stood up straight and walked away as if nothing had happened.

The girls spend the day in the city, visiting stores and eating great food at small store in an alley where more locals eat then tourists. When the sun started to sink into the ocean again, Bay looked at her sister.

"Are we going to Victoria Harbour tonight, or are we going to sleep early again?" she signed.

Daphne shrugged. She was tired and wondered if it would be better if they went to bed early today and visit Victoria Harbour on their last evening here.

"What about doing it on our last evening here?" she signed her thoughts out loud.

Bay understood her sister might have some troubles with the man lurking around the hotel. Maybe they needed to go to a different hotel today. But they already had already payed for their stay here, moving now would cost them so much! Maybe the man would give up and leave them be for the rest of their time here.

"As a goodbye to the city?" Daphne added hesitantly.

Bay nodded. It was a nice thought, to say goodbye to this amazing city.

The girl opened her bag and took her sketchbook out of it. Silently the girls sat together, Bay sketching and Daphne looking out over the sea, half dozing.

In the shadows stood the man in the grey suit, he was leaning casual against a blue sedan as if he was waiting on someone. The girls had not spotted him for the entire day, but he had been there. Within an hour after the girls had left the hotel, he had traced them. They had not been able to shake him, but they had also not known he had been there.

When the girls were in bed later that night they talked happily about their adventures day and how much fun it had been when they activated the fire alarm on accident. They also planned the day ahead of them and looked at the map of China. Tomorrow was their last day in Hong Kong and after they had visited Victoria Harbour they would go to bed and in the morning get the bus into China, their trip finally starting!

The next day, the girls slept in. The adventures of yesterday had worn them more out then they had thought.

A knock on the door woke Bay up, when she looked at her phone, she saw she had 3 missed calls!

Another knock sounded at the door.

Sleepily she stumbled to the door, while she pulled her pajama top straight.

At the door stood a young woman, her hair tied in a tight not on the back of her head and she was wearing a tight black suit.

"Miss Kennish?" she asked, "Or miss Vasquez?"

Bay nodded, her brown hair swinging around her pale face.

"Kennish."

"There was a phone call at the front office for you." The woman said, "Mr. Kennish asked me to check up on you, to see if you are alright. He said he was worried because you two did not answered your phones earlier and also had not called back."

The woman looked a bit bored. As if they were the tenth group of teenagers of which the parents had called, because they had been worried, this month.

"Hmm.. Okay," Bay replied, "I'll call him back."

She closed the door and she walked back to the bedside table. On Daphne's phone there were also a few missed calls and a text message. She took her phone again and called her dads cell phone.

"Hi Dad," Bay said as the phone got picked up.

"Bay, is that you?" asked the voice of her dad, John.

"Yeah, it's me. I am fine." She responded.

"Why didn't you answer your phone, honey?" He said, "I tried both of your phones like ten times! And then I had to call the hotel. We were so worried!"

Her dad sounded really worried, but Bay got a bit annoyed by it. They said they would call the home front when something was going on and at least every week once.

"We slept in, Daphne is still in bed."

Which reminded her to lower her voice, to not wake her up.

"We are on a holiday, what's going on?" she went on, "I thought we said we could only call once a week or if something is up."

John sighed.

"Nothing is going on, but we had not heard anything since you landed." He told her, "So we called."

Bay sighed.

"Oh dad, we are fine!" she said, "we just had not thought about it. I mean, you can just look up online if the airplane landed on time and stuff."

She rolled her eyes and was happy her father was not here to see it.

"And also, there was no report of an airplane crash, right?"

That thought made her a bit unsure. They had not watched any news since they got here.

"No no no, honey." He said hastily, "no airplane crashes have been reported… We were just worried."

There was some clicking on the other side of the line and rustling.

"Honey? Your mom wants to talk to you." John said.

Bay just sighed and nodded. Until she remembered her dad could not see her and said: "Sure."

More rustling sounded.

"Bay, honey?" Her mom sounded worried.

"Mom, I am okay," Bay responded, "yes we should have called to let you know we were save. We had a great day yesterday and are going to Victoria Harbour tonight."

Kathryn stifled a sob.

"Okay, good." The woman said, "Thank you for being so understanding. Say hi to Daphne for me and be save!"

The line got disconnected.

With a sigh Bay looked at her phone, it told the girl it was two o'clock in the afternoon. She put the phone down and counted the hours, their parents had been up in the middle of the night for their call! She thought they had gone a bit mad with it. Oh well, they were in Hong Kong now and their parents could not do anything against it anymore.

Slowly she went to sit on the bed and layed her hand on her sisters back. The red head squired under her touch, turned onto her back and sighed in her sleep.

"I know what you mean," she whispered to the sleeping girl.

She went back to the door, checked the lock and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

When she came back, Daphne was already up.. She greeted her sister happily as she went to take a shower too.

Bay didn't have the heart to tell Daphne yet about the call. She did not want to make her uncomfortable with the home situation too.

When Daphne got out of the shower, Bay was already busy getting their stuff out of the closet and spreading it out on the bed.

"Are we going to look for travel bags today?" she asked.

Daphne nodded. They still had to do that. Yesterday they had not felt like it, because they had so much fun just looking at stores. And because of that, they had to do it today.

When both the girls were dressed and were ready, they went downstairs and straight out the door of the hotel. Yesterday they had decided they would not have their breakfast in the hotel, but in a local bakery, not only would it solve their problem with their grey man, but it would also give them a better picture of Hong Kong and its people.

The bakery they had picked out looked very modern. The table tops had a touchscreen in them and people could just order by putting their billing-information in and simply ordering whatever they wanted of the menu. A young woman would come and bring their order. Today the store was already pretty busy when they came in, making them wait until a table freed up.

After half an hour, they were finally seated and they first order a croissant each. Just because they liked them, but also because there were so many items on the menu they did not know and were interested in trying.

When they were full and done, the girls left the bakery and went to the biggest store they had found yesterday. When they had past through it, they had seen a really big area where travel gear was sold.

There they found two really cool bags, one with what looked to be a hand-sprayed design on it for Bay and a light pink one for Daphne. The girls loved them.

When they got back to the hotel, they both filled up their new bags with their clothes and stuff and brought their empty suitcases to the basement of the hotel (they had arranged this when they arrived, those would be send after them in a few weeks).

As the girls made their way back to their room again, Bay thought she had glimpsed the grey man again, but when she checked again the hallway was empty.

Once there they sat on the bed from a minute in silence.

"I forgot to tell you, dad called when you were still asleep…" signed Bay.

Daphne looked puzzled at the other girl.

"Why?"

"They called us several times during the morning, but we were asleep, and then they called the reception!" She explained the whole thing to the red head.

Then she rolled her eyes.

"Some times they are a bit over protective." She finished her story.

Daphne started laughing. All she signed back was: "Parents."

The two looked at each other for a minute before Daphne got to her feet.

"Get your stuff," she signed, "we have to leave if we want to get to Victoria harbour in time to see the sunset."

Bay got up too, grabbed her bag with art supplies and they both left the room.

They took a taxi north, across the water into the neighborhood. They walked the rest of the way to the waterline. The sun was balancing on the edge of thhe horizon, they were just in time. Bay set down and took out her sketchbook and pencils. Swiftly she sketched the landscape and added to it with colors, the drawing looked beautiful.

Daphne had sat down next to her sister, letting her mind wander.

Behind them, the grey haired man stepped out of a cab and he went to sit on one of the benches looking out over the water. He his eyes search for the two girls and when he found them, he leaned back and closed his eyes for a moment. His source had been right.

Within half an hour the sun had completly sunk into the water, both girls were amazed by the sight. It had been one of the most beautiful things they had ever seen.

In silence they halted a cab to take them back to the hotel. Once there they drank something in the restaurant of the hotel and then went up to their room. The buss would leave tomorrow at noon, so they could not sleep in like they had done today.

Their alarm went off at eight o'clock that morning, both girls got up and quickly took showers one after the other and thhen making their way to breakfat. Wheen they were done they went back upstairs to get their bagss and Daphne checked them out of the hotel.

In the mean time Bay send a small text to her mom, stating they had checked out and would contact them when they arrived in Guilin.

After they had done all the things they needed to do to leave Hong Kong, they checked their route to the busstation. Which wasn't that far from their hotel, so they walked, with their new bagss hoised on their shoulders.

The bus was already parked along the curb when they got there, but they had half an hour to spend before they would leave. They notivied the busdriver they were there and showed him their tickets and went to sit in the sun. It was a beautiful day and it promised to be warm in the bus, which had no airconditioning. But this was the only company going to Guilin today. They could have stayed a bit longer in Hong Kong, but they had already known they would get bored after a while in one city. So they had agreed to take this one.

Five minutes before the bus was scheduled to leave the driver went around the group to tell them to enter the bus. Slowly all the people made their way to the bus, getting their tickets stamped and finding their spot in the bus.

When everyone was inside the driver closed the door and started rolling away from the curb. Then they heard a loud knocking sound against the street side of the bus. The bus driver breaked imideatly and the passengers got a little shaken.

Bay quickly signed to Daphne what was going on, as the driver opened the door again to let the late comer enter. It was the grey haired man. Bay's face turned white and Daphne looked puzzled at her sister.

Bay signed they would talk about it later.

As the man verified his ticket with the driver and went to his seat, the driver closed the door and started driving again.

Finally they were on their way.

The girls sat next to each other eying the man sitting a few rows in front. He had nodded to them when he sat down, but had not turned to them since them.

"So, what do we do with him? Confront him?" Daphne signed.

Bay nodded, got out of her chair and sneaked her way to the man. He looked surprised at her when she sat down next to him.

"Hi," Bay said.

The man acknowledged the girl wit a nod and went back to staring right in front of him.

"Do you remember me?" she asked him.

The man pretended to study her and nodded his head.

"Sure."

Bay had to think for a minute and she looked back to her sister, who nodded encouraging.

"Can you then tell me why we keep seeing you, even though you don't know you?" She asked.

The man raised his shoulders and let them drop again.

"I think that is just a coincidence. I am here on a business trip and need to go to Guilin for my next appointment."

The man shrugged.

Bay sighed and stared in front of her.

She did not believe in coincidences, but she could not just accuse the man of stalking them.

"Are you sure?" She asked after a while.

"Of course I am sure," the man said angrily.

"Okay, okay." She responded, "didn't know you were getting angry!"

With that she walked back to her seat with Daphne. There she explained what the man had said to her sister. Both girls did not believe the whole story of the man. But how else could they explain why this man has been in some many of the places they had been in only a few days.

Even though their investigation did not satisfy, they leaned back in their chairs and just enjoyed the ride.

The scene outside was beautiful, Bay spend most of the time drawing and listening to music. Daphne read most of the time in a book about the human body, she did not want to get behind on her schoolwork. But she also spend time just looking outside.

The bus stopped every two hours for a small break and a walk. Eventually it turned evening and both girls fell asleep.

When they woke, the bus was standing in front of their hotel. The man was not in sight anymore and the girls got out their chairs, got their bags and enter the hotel. It was already very late and except for the girl at the reception-desk there was no one. The girl checked them in, showed them their room, where they changed into their night cloths and fell asleep again.

When the girls woke up, the sun was shining into their room and gave them a beautiful sight of the city. After a nice shower they went downstairs for their breakfast and had their fill from their favorites of a Chinese breakfast.

They took a cab to the Li River, they had packed lunches and drinks and were ready for a long day. They told the cab to return to the same spot in ten hours, which would give them more then enough time to just do their own thing on the beautiful banks of the river.

Bay spend most of the day painting, when she was done with her first, she saw a small rowing boat she wanted to paint and started on that. Going from one amazing scene to the next. Her watercolors soon ran out and she moved on to just using pencil and markers.

Daphne read a book and just enjoyed the sight, her pale skin color turning to the color of a crab.

After the ten hours the cabbie was waiting for them at the same spot and the girls were late, so they came running down the path when the cab wanted to drive away.

Laughing they got into the car and the man in front of the steering wheel looked sourly at them.

"You are late!" was all he said as he drove away, back to the city.

Daphne enjoyed the sight of the city at night, it was not as bright as Hong Kong, for it was much smaller. But in a way it was still very beautiful.

Drained they made their way back to their room again as they noticed the grey man sitting in the lobby. They ignored him and just went upstairs. There they reorginised their bags again, they each took a shower and went to bed. Tomorrow was another travel day, for they would go to visit the Terracotta Army in Xi'an. Bay had been very adamant about it, because everybody praised it for the style and age, but she needed to buy paint supplies first, which were not available in Guilin.

The next morning the girl got up, went for breakfast with their bags and right after ran out of the hotel to get their train in time. The grey man was in the lobby of the hotel, just sipping coffee, but the girls ignored him. If they were fast enough and the man was planning on following them, he would not be able to in the busy streets and the train station.

The sleek black train was ready for departure when they entered the great halls of the station. The clock hit exactly 09:00am and the girls had three minutes to find their platform and to get in the train.

As the red head enter the wagon, the signal sounded and the brown haired girl shoved her sister to make room for herself.

"I'm sorry," she signed, "but the train was leaving."

The other girl nodded and went to find their seats.

They had a cabin of their own, not because they chose to, but it happened to be this way. Bay had saved some money over the last year (because he had been unable to do much during the year) and Daphne had save up the money from her original trip to China, but it did not mean they had money to waste. So they had done most things as cheap as possible, but not their hotel rooms, because according to Daphne one could not save on sleep. So the hotel rooms weren't the most expensive ones, but also not the cheapest. They had planned their holiday with much care, knowing at each moment where they would be going the next day. Staying every so often of multiple days at one place, but mostly just for 2 nights. This way they would see most of the touristic sights in China before summer was over and they had to be in America again for school.

The girls talked about their plans for Xi'an. They would get to the hotel some time during the evening, their plan was to go to bed, wake up early the next day and to call their parents (it had been a while since that awful phone call). After that they would go out for lunch and finding art supplies for Bay.

But before the girls could finish their plan, the cabin was lit up by the flashing of Daphne's phone. She picked it up and smiled to the camera as Bay joined her in thee frame. On the screen they could make out their blond brother and his lovely son. The baby boy had grown a lot over the last week since they had left him. Together they cooed over the cute baby and Toby could only laugh at his sisters. Carlton started to look like him and even though he was only a few weeks old, all their fears for him having something had evaporated. The boy was a happy kid and loved the attention of his aunts.

"I though you girls wouldn't mind if Carlton and I said hi while you guys are on a boring train ride." Said the dad proudly, "he is growing so much and he really misses you."

The baby sat yawning on his daddies lap. Both girls drooled over him and the phone vibrated, a text message from Regina wishing them great fun with the porcelain army.

After talking for a while with their brother they hung up, the baby had fallen asleep in his lap and drooling all over his dad. The girls were happy with call. They had to buy a plushy terracotta doll for him, so he would ask questions about it at a later age. The girls each went their separate way in the cabin, Daphne reading and Bay starring out of the window.

When the sun sunk behind the mountains in the distance the girls went to the dinner cart to grab some dinner. They were about two thirds through their journey from Guilin to Xi'an and they started to get bored, so they tried to sleep for a bit.

That evening the train arrived noisily in Xi'an station, the girls waking up from it. They grabbed their bags and left their cabin. On the platform there was a man standing with a large sign stating "Kennish girls". The girls looked questioningly at each other, they did not arrange anything for themselves, except the train tickets to get there. They went over to the man and looked at him top to bottom and the man smiled at them.

"Good to see you, miss Kennish and miss Kennish." He said, "I was told to fetch you girls from the station and to bring you to the hotel."

The girls shrugged and went with the man.

"Who send you?" Bay asked.

"Mister Kennish, miss." He answered with a curt nod.

"Oh, right."

Bay sighed and signed the word dad to Daphne, who had already understood what was going on. They had to do something about their overprotective parents, first they called them out of bed by calling the hotel and now they had a ride to a hotel of which they did not even know how expensive it was going to be! All because their parents could not stay out of their business.

Daphne understood. Ever since the Kennish's had come in to her life, she had lost a lot of privacy. She loved her biological parents, but they would just not leave her be to make her own mistakes and find her own way in life without having to fight for it. They had been against her going to medical school at first and only when she fought with them a lot they accepted it. Her own mom was more relaxed about it, she would only warn her about how much money something costs and so on, but as long as you came up with the money yourself, she was fine with it. Regina was the more relaxed parent. But she didn't love the Kennish's any less then Regina, they were just a bit too over protective.

Daphne spends some time on thinking about their first meeting, it had been awkward and Regina had made such a fuss before they went to visit the family of four, about who she thought they were. She could not have imagined them all living together and being friends. And they parent together now! Who would have thought. She had also been a bit biast, a rich family with the money to do dna tests and to go to court, to ripe her from her mother, but they did not. And when Bay suggested they could come and live in their guest house, it felt like a dream come true. Even though times have been hard since then, first Angelo coming into their lives (again) and all the mess with her mother and her own rebellion, but now things had settled, Toby had a kid and the Kennish's were great grandparents.

Bay guided her sister after the man as they walked to a car standing at the curb, a black hunk of metal on tires. She sighed and mumbled the word dad again.

"To what hotel are you supposed to bring us?" She asked the man.

"The Hilton, miss" the man answered as he held open the back-door of the car.

Bay looked shocked at Daphne.

"No, no, no! Not the Hilton," she said a bit panicked, "that is way to expensive! We can't… can't afford it."

She went to lean over the passenger chair to look the man in the eye.

"Stop the car!" she said when the man did not respond.

The man signaled, moved to the side of the street and stopped the car, turning the engine off.

"What?" he said grumpily.

"The Hilton is far to expensive for us, bring us to something cheaper!"

The man looked puzzled as he turned the engine on again and started driving.

"Sure, but mister Kennish told me everything there was paid for."

He shook his head.

"But if you want me to…"

The girls looked shocked at each other, Kathryn of course, being the concerned parent again.

"Oh then just bring us to the Hilton." Bay sighed.

They can't say no to a gift in a foreign country.

They drove awhile in silence until Bay had a thought.

"Say good Sir, do you know where I can buy quality art supplies?" she asks the cabbie.

The man nods.

"Do you want me to drive by there?" he asked politely.

"Yeah, if you don't mind," she said.

The man looks at his watch and makes a sharp right.

Daphne smiles at Bay.

"Smart thinking," she signed.

Bay nodded as the cab made its way though the city.

At a big building the cabbie stopped at the curb.

"Here it is," the man said.

Bay quickly got out and hurried into the store.

Within ten minutes she slid back into the car and the cabdriver took them to the Hilton.

And indeed when they checked in, their stay had already been payed for. They had a suite at the upper most floor of the hotel. With best view of the building and they loved it.

The girls sat in the seats by the window, looking out of the city, together they drank the bottle of champaign that came with the room.

Daphne went to take a shower afterward while Bay changed into her nightclothes. Together they went to sleep in the two separate beds in the room.

Tomorrow they would go into the city and look for the museum where they kept the terracotta army. Bay had dreamed of this day for so long, she was feeling gitty about finally seeing it with her own eyes.

Right across from the hallway there was a grey haired man sleeping in a very loyal bed. Right after breakfast he went to the reception to pay for the two rooms he had rented for the last night and the next 4 nights and leaving a note to not bother the girls until after 10 a.m.

The girls woke up slowly, it was half past 9. They went downstairs for breakfast and went back upstairs. There they turned on their laptop and called to Kansas City through Skype.

"Hi!" It sounded from the speakers.

"Hey, mom, dad." Said Bay to the Kennish family.

In the background Regina came into the kitchen and saw the two adults hanging over their laptop.

"Hi, you guys didn't tell me you were calling today!" she said

John turned around and waved her closer.

"Come, come." He whispered to her.

"Hey girls." Regina said when she was also in the frame.

The girls waved at their family.

"We are in Xi'an," they told, "we wanted to say hi for we went to see the army."

Bay was so happy with that fact, she wanted to shout it of the roof, but she was not raised that way and would not behave so inappropriately.

"Exciting!" Kathryn squealed.

"Good for you, girls." John said.

Regina was silent, but looked happy for them.

"We talked to Toby and Carlton yesterday," said Bay, "they called us during our trip from Guilin to here!"

The girls smiled when Bay remembered.

"Oh dad, don't ever arrange for a cab and hotel for us! We can do it ourselves, we are on this trip, not you!"

Bay looked unhappy about it.

John looked puzzled.

"How do you mean?" he asked. "I did not arrange for a cab to get you from the airport, I know it is your trip."

The girls looked shocked at each other.

"But the cabbie said you called!" she sputtered.

"How? It is almost ten o'clock in the evening here!" he responded, "How could I call a cab service for you to arrange something that is going to happen hours later!"

They were all silent, thinking things through.

"Okay, but who did it, if you didn't?" Daphne asked.

Again they were silent.

After a while Daphne perked up.

"Bay, there is that grey haired man…" she said unsure.

She did not want to mention it in front of their parents, but maybe the man who had been snooping about during their first days done it. They had not seen him since Guilin, but it did not mean he was gone.

Regina and Kathryn's eyes were huge. But John was not phased.

"A grey haired man?" Kathryn asked scared.

Bay explained everything that had happened with the man and described him to their parents. The women looked scared, but John looked guilty.

Daphne saw the expression on his face.

"John?" she asked, "is there something you want to say?"

He had been unusually quiet this whole time, since they had told about the man, where as he usually freaked out first when it concerned the girls.

The man turned red in the face.

"Okay, okay!" he said, "I might have hired a private detective to follow you, I just instructed him to stay out of sight. I am going to have a talk with him…"

John turned away from the camera and moved out of the frame, still mumbling.

All four women sighed at the same time and started to laugh.

"So…" Daphne said, "mystery solved."

Bay started to look pissed.

"I wish dad would stay out of our business." She mumbled.

"I know, Bay," Kathryn started, but more words did not come.

Daphne checked her watch and she pressed her elbow in Bay's side.

"Hey mum, we're sorry, but we have to go!" Bay responded, "We'll talk later!"

She hit the red button on the screen and the video-call got cut off.

Bay put the laptop away and looked at her sister.

"That was curious." She said as she went to the door, "are you ready?"

With her hand on the doorknob she waited for her sister to get ready for their adventure outside.

Daphne quickly packed a few things in her purse and put on her shoes.

"Ready." She said and together they left the room.

In the city they visited most of the stores, the ones they couldn't visit because it was getting dark, they would visit the day after.

The girls loved the city. Bay thought it had class and Daphne liked the style of it. They had spend some time at the Bell Tower, the Grand Mosque of Xi'an and the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda. Both girls loved the buildings and they even went inside the Pagoda, where Bay made some sketches and Daphne just wandered around. The flowers in front of the Pagoda were in full bloom and the sun had shone very brightly.

Maybe tomorrow they would go back to some of the sights to enter those too, but they wanted first to see how much time they had left after visiting the other shops and the terracotta army.

Bay was nicely colored from the sun all day, but Daphne had turned the color of a crab by noon and wanted to stay mostly in the shadows from that moment on. Bay didn't mind, for she needed no extreme light for her painting.

That evening Bay rubbed Daphne's sore skin with an after sun lotion and wished her a good evening. They had agreed to split up for the night, Bay wanted to visit the Pagoda again to see and Daphne wanted to go out for an extremely expensive dinner.

Bay made a few beautiful paintings of the Pagoda and moved on to the Bell Tower of Xi'an to paint that one too.

Daphne was sitting alone at her table, enjoying a full five course meal and a bottle of red wine. She had never drunk anything before she met the Kennish's, but Kathryn had learned her to enjoy a nice red wine, but she would never drink in front of her mom out of solidarity, but with non of the real Vasquez' around, she could enjoy a bottle. Her meal was great, with only Chinese dishes and nothing American in it, even the wine was local! She closed her eyes for a moment to completely enjoy the moment, savoring the woody taste of the wine and the spiciness of the food. It had been awhile since she had enjoyed food so much, due to Bay's non-existing savings they had tried to save on food as much as possible. Not that she was blaming her sister for it, but she did not mind having to think about how much she was spending on food tonight and wanted to completely engorge herself on nice wine and dishes, tomorrow she would go back to eating less and more boring food.

By the time Bay got back to the hotel, her painting supplies had dwindled back to almost non existent. They had to buy more tomorrow.

She entered the empty room and turned on the light. On the bed lay a tray with a steaming cup of coffee and a few chocolates. She screamed in delight and smacked the door closed to run to the bed. Carefully she picked up the tray and went to sit on the edge of the bed, putting the tray on her lap.

Slowly she sipped the hot beverage and enjoyed every drop of it, sometimes taking a bit of the chocolates in between sips.

About an hour after Bay got home Daphne came home. The red head looked relaxed and completely happy.

Bay whistled between her teeth.

"You look happy." Bay mentioned.

Daphne let herself drop on the bed.

"Yeah," she sighed, "It was nice. I liked the food very much, but very expensive."

"Well," her sister answered, "thanks for the coffee anyway."

"Hmm…" she answered half asleep, "sure, no problem."

The red head closed her eyes lazily and rolled to the other side to sleep.

Bay was still sipping her coffee. She stood up, turned on the bedside light and turned off the main light. Then she went back to the bed and slowly finished her coffee.

When she was finished she put the cup on the saucer on her lap and put the tray on her nightstand. Lazily she turned of the night by her bed and went to lay down. Her belly making funny noises to digest the coffee and chocolates. She snickered a bit because of it. When her stomach finally was quiet she fell asleep.

The next day the girls rose bright and early. After a nice hot shower they went downstairs together for breakfast and after that they left for the museum that housed the terracotta army. Bay was talking a lot, because she was too excited to shut up and Daphne looked a bit annoyed with it. She hoped they would get there soon, so Bay would shut up. On their way there they passed by the store where they stocked up on supplies a few days earlier, so Bay ran in again to resupply.

When she came out of the store she sighed.

"By now I have spend about the same amount on art supplies as on food." She signed to her sister.

Daphne laughed and nodded, understanding.

Where food and helping others was one of her passions, art was Bay's, just like their mother, Regina. Daphne's passion was not in her genes, she liked sports, just like their father, John, and brother, Toby, but it was not her passion. The red head still wanted to get into medical school, but if that didn't work out, she wanted to do something with food. She loved both, but helping others was to her a higher priority.

"Let's go to the museum." She signed.

Now it was time for Bay to nod.

The girls arrived at the museum and paid a heavy fee to get in. Bay had not expected it to be so expensive, but wanted to go anyway. They were lead into the caves that contained the army. Daphne was bedazzled by the architecture of it. How had this survived for so long! The girls weren't allowed to walk between the statues, but there was a rig on the sides and some plaits to stand on, which benches. Bay went to sit at one of the benches and at first Daphne sat with her, but later she began to feel restless and went to wander around the complex, studying the caves and the statues. After a while Bay joined her again, done with her painting, now she wanted to go and see the emperor's tomb. The girls made their way to the room that said emperors tomb and looked at an empty plate on the ground. It looked like the foundation of a sarcophagus, but it had been removed. When they left the room, Daphne pointed at a sign near the entrance of the room. The sign said: "The Emperor has found a permanent home in a traveling exhibit. Our excuses for his absence." Bay had to laugh for their mistake. They had not seen the sign when they entered the tomb. Immediately Bay grabbed her phone and checked online where the traveling exhibit was going to be next, because she would have liked to see the sarcophagus. They were lucky, the exhibit would make a stop in Beijing around the time they would be there. The girls ordered their tickets directly there and then. Bay could not contain her excitement.

The girls hung around the caves for a few more hours, Bay painting and Daphne just walking around, sometimes reading a sign here and there.

After they were done there they went to see the rest of the shops they had not seen the day before, in one of the shops they bought a cute onesy for Carlton with a print of very small terracotta men on there. They brought it to the post office to send to Kansas, because by the time they were back Carlton might have grown out of it again. Their lunch consisted of sushi, it was a thing Daphne ate for the first time a few days ago, but she liked it so much, they went again today.

After their late lunch they went back to the Grand Mosque of Xi'an and Daphne started to compare it to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, she had visited it once, back in high school on a school-trip and she had been amazed by it. But this one was much bigger and more beautiful. Much more decorated and she liked the style also more.

That evening they had a big meal at a restaurant with mostly locals, but they liked the food very much and in preparation for the next they, they filled themselves up.

The next day was a travel-day again, they took the bus again, this time to Datong, the last stop before Beijing. They were only going to stay one night at a bed and breakfast (the village did not have any hotels, even thought it was a big tourist-attraction) and the next night they would spend on the train to Beijing. The only thing they wanted to visit in Datong were the caves. Which were supposed to be beautiful, just like anything on their trip.

After breakfast they made their way to the bus-stop again, the check-in procedure was the same as the last time and 5 minutes before the bus was scheduled to leave they were in the bus. This one leaving exactly on time and no people stopping them from getting into traffic. The girls leaned back in their seats, happy and content.

Half way during their drive a kid in the front of the bus started to scream fire and murder, forcing the driver to bring the bus to the side of the road to figure out what is going on. By the time the bus was at a complete standstill the mother of the kid was screaming too. No one really understanding what is going on.

The kid was already standing in the walkway as the door opened and he ran out. The mother went after him, but the bus driver stayed but. Daphne went after the woman and the boy. Bay stood up, but stayed in the walkway. Multiple people were looking around in confusion but did nothing.

Outside the boy was standing with his head between his knees and on the ground between his feed was small puddle of puk. The woman was standing a few meters away, also with a puddle of puk within a meter distance. Another woman came out of the bus and started throwing up next to the boy, spattering their shoes.

Daphne put her hand on the shoulder of the woman that ran out first, with concern on her face she asked the woman: "Are you okay?"

The woman looked at her questioningly. Apparently the woman did not speak English. She understood Daphne was concerned, but not what she was asking.

The red head put up her thumb and then turned it upside down and looked questioningly. And the woman nodded, sticking up her thumb too, when she started wobbling on her feet. Concerned Daphne took the womans upper-arms in her hand. She made the signal again and again the woman nodded. This made the girl confused. Why would the woman say she is fine even though she puked and she is unsteady on her feet?

The woman shrugged Daphne off and started puking again, this time she fell to her knees. When Daphne turned around to see about the boy and the other woman, both had bigger pools of puk around them and both were on their knees too. Even a third woman had joined them. What the hell was going on?

Concerned she called: "What is happening?"

The only one who reacted was the new woman.

"There was a man before we left, who handed out candy to the people in the front of the bus and then left." She said.

Daphne looked angry at this and ran into the bus. Bay looked at her.

"What's going on?" Bay signed to her sister, knowing she had less problems following things in ASL.

Daphne signed the story of what the woman told her and then pulled her bag of the luggage rack. She rummaged through it aggressively until she found what she was looking for. It was a small white plastic bottle full of black pills, she checked the content quickly and ran outside again. There she gave each patient a few of those pills. Another man had joined the women and kid. The kid had passed out so Daphne had to force it down his throat.

Bay also went outside and more people joined them, looking that the women being uncomfortable. All the victims looked green in the face, feeling sick from whatever the man gave them.

"You all have to take a few of these pills," Daphne said, handing the bottle to someone standing next to her. Then she went over to the boy again and pulled him upright. Softly she slapped him in the face.

"Where is his mom?" she hissed.

Slowly the boy came back to the present, he moaned and puked again.

"I am sorry," he moaned when he noticed pieces of food fell on Daphne's shoes.

Daphne shushed the boy.

"It's okay." She said, not even knowing what the boy said to her, but just guessing right.

The boy looked up to the girl and gave her a weak smile. He was shaking and his face was very pale, but his stomach content stayed in.

Even though the people from the front of the bus kept their stomachs inside, but they still felt bad. The other people had taken the small black pills too, just in case it was not the thing the man gave them, but something in the air or a bacteria or something else nobody had thought about.

Bay looked at her sister and was glad the girl kept her head cool, the girl had a real neck for taking care of sick people in need. It was a good thing she wanted to be come a doctor.

Daphne was still sitting with the boy and looking around for his mother, when the woman that went after him out of the bus walked over, still unsteady on her feet.

She said something in Mandarin to her and stroked the head of the boy. Daphne looked at the woman puzzled, but thought it was probably the boy's mother. The woman sat down with the boy and kept stroking his hair.

Daphne left them alone to look after the other people who had been puking.

In the end there had been nine people who had puked, all from the front of the bus. They all started to feel better and when they went back in the bus the bus-driver looked annoyed at them, but happy they would be on the road again soon.


End file.
